Juneteenth Event Unfolds Monday In East Hampton

EAST HAMPTON, NY — A Juneteenth celebration will be held Monday in East Hampton.

The event takes place Monday from noon to 4 p.m. at Herrick Park in East Hampton Village.

The event is organized by the Calvary Baptist Church, the East Hampton Anti-Bias Task Force, and both the village and town of East Hampton.

Reverend Walter Silva Thomson Jr., members of local clergy, and guests will discuss Juneteeth.

The event is sponsored by Tarbet & Lester and the East Hampton Village Foundation; live music will be played by Certain Moves.

In 2020, on June 19, the day that the enslaved were emancipated in 1865, two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 — then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared that state employees could take the day as a holiday. He also signed an executive order stating that beginning in 2021, Juneteenth would be an official state holiday.

According to Juneteenth.com, Juneteenth is the "oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States."

In 1865, it was on June 19 that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, TX "with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free."

The Emancipation Proclamation, the post added, had, before that date, not been recognized by residents of Texas due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce Lincoln's mandate.